Brothers
by CBloom2
Summary: A small Hal/Matt one shot that came to me - don't often see them together and I just LOVE brotherly interaction - hope you do too.


**So I have recently come across Falling Skies – and while some of it needs a bit of tweaking, on the whole I am loving the show. I noticed that there is not a lot of fiction out there just yet, but I wrote this after 1.03, when Karen had been taken. I have probably taken a few liberties here, but hey I don't really know the characters yet …not to mention dramatic license! Now I can't remember when Tom put the picture of Ben on 'the wall' but for my story it is already up there.**

**It's a family/comfort kind of piece coz that's what I do! I love brotherly stuff so that's what you get!**

**Again I don't know anyone that you recognise from the show – I'm just borrowing them for a while…**

The corridors of the school were dark and silent – just as they always were when they got back at this late hour from a mission.

The moon was casting ghostly tendrils of silvery light, marking his progress through the peaceful building. Hal was tired – almost to the point of exhaustion. He'd been out every night for the past week – taking any mission – in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of Karen, who had been taken by some of the harnessed kids, more specifically his own brother, Ben. He shuddered as he remembered how his brother had looked straight at him as he dragged his girlfriend away. He'd yelled his brothers' name to try to get him to stop, but there was nothing there – nothing that told him that it was his brother. Then a group of kids, not Ben thank goodness, had been brought before him, only to be gunned down by one of the Megs **(A.N I hope I got that right**!) all because Mike had seen his son and had managed to rescue him.

Then they had let him go – to be a messenger – to tell others what would happen if they tried to rescue the kids. Hal and his dad, Tom, had decided there and then that when they went for Ben, they would have to get as many kids as they could.

He sighed deeply as the weariness made itself known again. Truth was, he didn't want to sleep – he didn't deserve to sleep. He was supposed to help Karen – he should've done something to protect her. He also felt the guilt that it was his own brother who took her, not to mention the continuing anxiety over the fact that Ben was still with them and had been for six months.

Presently the flickering of candles diverted him from his thoughts to the wall of pictures of the missing children. Slowly, he moved toward it scanning the faces of all the young people who should have been there with them, but weren't. His eyes were immediately drawn to Ben's picture. He couldn't help the small smile that pulled at his mouth. Even when he was twelve, Ben was dressed in a suit, ready for some math competition, excitement radiating from his face. Hal chuckled and shook his head as he reached out to touch the photo, 'Math geek' he thought to himself.

Suddenly a wave of weariness washed over him and he found himself sat on the floor, now looking up at the wall, which was lit by a few precious candles – their flames flickering in the darkness.

Every so often, particularly in the stillness of the night, Hal felt a huge weight on his young shoulders. He wanted, no, needed to get his brother back. They might not have always seen eye to eye but he missed him and would move heaven and earth to get him back. He also needed to be strong for his dad, who'd got enough to worry about. Then there was Matt – he had to make sure that he was being the best big brother possible for the little guy, who was being so brave during all this. He also needed to be strong for Karen…no, he didn't want to go there.

"Hal…Hal, is that you?" A small, quiet voice broke into his thoughts.

"Matt, what are you doing up? Are you ok?" Hal asked, concerned that his baby brother was roaming the quiet corridors on his own at such a late hour.

Matt sat himself down next to Hal, "I heard dad come in…he fell asleep straight away – but you didn't come with him, I got worried…"

Hal smiled, "Don't worry squirt, I'm ok."

"Are you?" Matt queried as he looked intently at his big brother, "I might be the youngest, but I'm not stupid you know – I know you're not sleeping properly especially since Karen…"

"Since I lost Karen!" Hal interrupted.

"Hal, you were unconscious…"

Hal shook his head as he brought his knees up towards his chest, then leaned on his knees with his elbows and began pulling at his hair, "What makes it harder Matty, was this it was Ben who took her. I yelled at him to try to get him to stop, but he looked straight through me…" Hal had to stop as the emotion associated with what had happened threatened to overwhelm him – and he didn't want to breakdown in front of Matt.

Matt, for his part, just sat quietly next to his brother – their arms just touching to remind each other of their presence.

"Ben doesn't know what he's doing Hal," Matt tried to explain.

Hal sighed, "I know he doesn't…"

"I wish he was here…with us…" Matt whispered.

Hal glanced down at his youngest brother and saw a lone tear sparkle in the candlelight, "Do you wish the same Hal?"

Matt turned his tear streaked face towards him. Seeing the little guy so worried really tore at Hal. If ever he'd had any doubts about whether to rescue Ben, just seeing the sadness on his brothers' face was enough to keep him on track, "Yeah Matt, I wish that more than anything."

"Even though you argued all the time. I used to think that you hated each other," Matt replied, remembering how his brothers used to fight on most days.

"Just coz we fought, doesn't meant I didn't…don't love him and miss him and want him here with us – and I do Matty, I really do love him…and you. I promise you that I will bring him back and when I do I will do everything in my power to keep you both safe! I will not lose either of you…"

Matt kneeled up and threw his arms around his exhausted brother. Hal reciprocated the hug with one of his own, "Come on Hal, you need to rest," Matt whispered over Hal's shoulder. Hal stood up with Matt still clinging to him, "Hold on Matty…"

He reached into his back pocket and took out a photo – the only photo he had of Karen…slowly he pinned it to the wall…

**Hope it was ok. I suppose it could be out of character for Hal, but as I've said before, I'm not really sure about their characters yet – but I think that Hal has the capacity to be like this to keep his younger brother going. **

**Reviews will be appreciated.**


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